 Mineral Resources Deputy Minister Godfrey Oliphant says the death toll on SA’s mines for the year to date has increased to 63 and the government is adamant it will not back off the temporary closure of mines that violate safety rules
THE death toll on SA’s mines for the year to date had increased to 63 and the government was adamant it would not back off the temporary closure of mines that violated health and safety provisions, Mineral Resources Deputy Minister Godfrey Oliphant said yesterday.
By the same time last year, 59 people had been killed on SA’s mines, which were among the world’s deepest, making them some of the most dangerous.
The Department of Mineral Resources has stepped up the monitoring of adherence to safety laws and is coming down hard on companies that fail to comply.
Mining companies complained earlier this year about the crippling effect of temporary closures following accidents.
Suspension of a working area, a shaft or an entire mine is triggered in terms of a section 54 notice under the Mine Health and Safety Act after an accident.
Mining companies said the closures resulted in lost production not only from the suspension of work, but also in the time it took to restart shafts or mines, which deteriorated if left unattended. Comprehensive checks were also needed to ensure working areas were safe before work resumed.
Mr Oliphant rejected that, saying: "We want to state categorically that it is mischievous to regard section 54 as the contributor to the loss of production."
He spoke at a memorial service at Gold Fields ’ Kloof Driefontein Complex, where five workers died from smoke inhalation after an underground fire. "This flies in the face of the reality that mine operational challenges are contributing significantly to low production," he said.
AngloGold Ashanti said earlier this year it had lost 73 000oz of gold production to safety stoppages last year, 50 000oz of that in the final quarter. Anglo American Platinum said it had 81 shutdowns last year, three times that of the previous year.
Shutdowns had cost it more than 150 000oz of platinum.
Of the 63 deaths, the gold sector accounted for 27 and platinum 21, with coal and other minerals making up the balance.
"The current situation we find ourselves in justifies us intensifying the use of section 54 of the Mine Health and Safety Act amongst other enforcement tools which are at our disposal, and the act is being reviewed to assist us to achieve this end of zero harm," Mr Oliphant said.
The department, labour and companies met on Monday under the auspices of the Mining Industry Growth Development and Employment Task Team (Migdett) to discuss the results of a study, commissioned by the body, of the way safety stoppages were applied.
The task team, which conducted the study, made eight recommendations. They included continuous training for inspectors, and "clear guidance for the inspectors if they have to take a decision of whether to stop operations at one shaft or all the shafts of a particular mine".
It recommended relationships be built between managers and inspectors and that joint stakeholder workshops be held to evaluate the effect of stoppage notices and "not wait for a crisis". It also suggested that an awareness campaign be conducted for mineworkers on instructions carried in the stoppage notices.
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